Announcing the OhMyNews Scale

Like many of you, I have been puzzled at the selective outrage of OhMyNews, Hankyoreh, and other lefist / anti-American media in Korea about Iraqi prisoners forced to wear leashes and panties, a matter which I hope to put in its proper context, not to downplay. At the same time, those “news” sources seldom or never mention the 4 million North Koreans currently living on the brink of starvation, the 2 million already culled through engineered famine, the uncounted scores of kids maimed by what may have been a WMD mishap at Ryongchon (and then left untreated), the reports of gas chambers at Camp 51, the quarter of a million in the death camps, the thousands of women sold into sex slavery in China, Chinese border guards shooting North Korean refugees . . . you get the idea.

The key to this misunderstanding is our own failure to understand that among some South Koreans, especially those who hate America, human life is valued on a sliding scale. In the hope of promoting greater international sensitivity and awareness, I now present the result of years of careful empiricial analysis . . . the OhMyNews Human Life Valuation Scale.

Take any story with a human rights angle and use it to test the accuracy of this scale in predicting the public and media reaction in South Korea. Readers are encouraged to report back on the predictive accuracy of the OhMyNews Scale to help our researchers adjust it accordingly.

The Oh MyNews Scale:
A Qualitative Analysis Method for the Valuation of Human Life
in Contemporary South Korea

The Victim Is (choose one):
Killed= Plus 2 points
Abducted / Enslaved= Plus 2 points
Loses face= Plus 1 points (2 if Victim is South Korean)
Maimed= Plus 1 point
Temporarily Injured= Plus zero points

Victim’s Nationality:
South Korean= Plus 2 points (1 point if victim is a “bad woman”)
Iraqi or Afghan= Plus 1 point
Al-Qaeda Member= Plus 1 point
North Korean= Plus 1 point
European, ANZAC, or Canadian= Plus ½ point
Chinese= Plus ½ point
Other Asian / African= Minus ½ point
Japanese= Minus 1 point
American= Minus 2 points

Guilty Party’s* Nationality:
American= Plus 3 points
Japanese= Plus 3 points
Other Asian / African= Plus 1 point
European, ANZAC, or Canadian= Plus 1 point
Chinese= Minus ½ point
Al-Qaeda Member= Minus 1 point
Iraqi or Afghan= Minus 1 ½ points
North Korean= Minus 3 points
South Korean= Minus 3 points

Judicial Proceedings:
U.S. Court= Plus 2 points
Post-Surrender Amnesty= Plus 1 ½ Points
Japanese Court= Plus 1 point
None= Zero points
Peoples’ Revolutionary Tribunal= Minus 1 point
Fatwa= Minus 1 point
South Korean Court= Minus 2 points
Cash Payoff / Blood Money / Sonhae Paesang= Minus 2 ½ points

Number of Victims:
1 person Zero points
2-10 persons= Zero points
10-500 persons= Zero points
500-5 million persons= Zero points

Add 1 point if any victim is under 20.

Interpretation of Results:
2 Points or less= Small. A virtual non-story
2 ½-4 Points= Modest. Joongang Ilbo, Page 4.
4 ½-6 Points= Noteworthy. Choice of a small vigil at an embassy, a 30-minute MBC documentary, or a commemorative stamp.
6 ½-8 Points= Large. Major demonstrations requiring a riot police show of force, ceremonial acts of student violence, restaurants refuse to serve offending nation’s citizens.
8 ½-10 Points= Perfect Storm. Massive demonstrations, widespread violent attacks on and discrimination against offending nation, firebombings and ransackings of businesses and installations associated with offending nation, offending nation’s athletes booed at international sporting events, politicians demand “independence” from the offending nation.

* Guilt is presumed once the accused’s nationality is printed in OhMyNews